Hoisting apparatus



May-28, 1946.

E. B. MALcQN am 2,401,172

Y HOISTING APPARATUS Filed May 24, 1943 Y 3 Sheets-Sheet.l l

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 28 1946 E. B. MALooN ETAL HOISTING APPARATUS File@ may 24, 1945 May 2s, 1946. 1 y

E. BMALQON ET A1.

HOI STING APPARATUS Filed May 24, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented May 28, 1946 Earl B. Maloon, Arcadia, and Willis H`. Yount,

Alhambra, Calif., assignors to Southwest Welding & Mfg. Co., Alhambra, Calif., a corporation of California Application May 24, 1943, serial No. 488.166

2 claims.. (c1. aai-187) This invention relates to hoisting or drag line apparatus, and While features of the invention could be applied on apparatus of this general nature performing any special function, we have described' the improvements in an assembly par'- ticularly adapted for use at, the rear end of a tractor, so as. to present a double drum type of apparatus capable of operating two cables independently of each other.

One ofthe objects of the invention is to provide apparatus of this kind having a construction enabling complete control of a cable drum to be maintained without necessitating any reversal in the direction of drive for the drum.

Another object of the invention is to provide a construction for such apparatus, for enabling the drum tov be completely controlled without necessitating stopping and starting of the drive to the drum; in other words, to provide a control that can be maintained under all circumstances where it is necessary to have the drive continu-V ously maintained.

Another object of the invention is to provide a construction involving the use of a continuously rotating drum shaft upon which a plurality of drums are mounted, and to provide control means for enabling the drums to be operated independently of each other for hoisting and lowering their loads independently of each other.

In the present specification, the invention is described as a double drum apparatus with a driving shaft located between the two drums. This type of structure particularly adapts it for application to a drive shaft located at' the rear end of a tractor or other power-driven vehicle; and one of the objects of the invention when applying the same to this double drum type of structure', is to provide a construction which is readily adapted for assembling the parts in such a way thatthe drive to the drum shaftcarrying the drums can readily be stablished in either direction. This feature renders the invention very adaptable to variousv situations where a double drum hoist or drag line apparatus must be employed in a situation where the available drive is in a certain single direction of rotation for the drive shaft.

Another object oi the invention is to provide a construction for mounting and controlling a drum involving the use of a clutch with a oneway brake on the drinn in which a single control member such as a lever', can control the clutch and also control. the drum with which thelever l is associated, the organization being such that the drums onv the drum shaft are controlled entirely independently of each other.

Further objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the novel parts and' combination of partsto be described hereinafter, all of which contribute to produce an eiicient hoisting apparatus.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described in the following specincation, while the broad scope of the invention is pointed' out in the` appended claims.

In. the drawings', which illustrate the invention as adapted merely toa double drum type of appa ratus,

Fig; 1 is a plan of the` apparatus, certain parts beingbroken away and shown in cross-section.

Fig. 2 is a side elevati-on of the apparatusilius'- trated in Fig. l, certainparts being broken away or shown in section. In this view the1 parts are shown as they would loe-if" looked at from the side of a; tractor or power-driven vehicle, to the rear end of which the' apparatus would be attached.

Fig. 3" is a view upon an enlarged scale', and isa vertical section taken about on the line 3--3 Yof, Fig'. 1, illustrating the one-way brake and parts immediately associatedwiththev sa-me for controlling the bra-ke.

Fig. 4 is a somewhat diagrammatic view and showing the end o'f the brake' band? and control` ling means therefor as viewed if` a` section were taken about on the line 4&4 of Fig. 3.

Fig'. 5' is a fragmentary View, and illustrates the control lever arrangement` at the left of Fig.

l, looking rearwardly from the plane of the linev In practicing the invention as applied to an apparatusadapted to be installed on the rear end: of a tractor or power-driven vehicle, we pro'- vide a pillow block orl bracket Il having aforwardly disposed seat platethat is adaptedto be :bol-teo or welded tothe rear end of the frame ofr a tractorl or other vehicle. This bracket operates as a housing for the rear end of the drive shaft `3 extending rearwardly from the vehicle and driven by the motor oi thek vehicle, or from an auxiliary motor. The frameof the apparatus includes' a.' casing or' housing 4i which,` inthe present' instance; vis of cylindrical form, havin-g a removable head 5` at each end. The middle portion or waist 6 of the casing is provided on itsV forward side' with a large opening 1 in which a sleeve-forni adapter 8 is mounted, said adapter having arr opening or .bore therein toreceive the sleeveB, with an extension orinwardly projecting arm I that forms an outboard bearing for the tip II of the shaft 3, or a shaft 3a that may be constructed as part of the apparatus, and provided with a coupling I2 for connecting up to the rear end of the shaft 3. The shaft 3a is provided with a bevel pinion I4 for driving a large bevel gear I5 of ring-form, which is attached to a spider I6 formed on, or attached to, the drum shaft I1 which extends longitudinally on the axis of the casing 4, being mounted in suitable bearings such as the bearing I8 illustrated in Fig. 1. These bearings I8 are mounted in inner heads I9 for the end sections of the casing 4.

In the present instance, we provide a pair of drums 20 located respectively in the end sections of the casing 4, and these drums are mounted for free rotation on the axis of the drum shaft I1, and are mounted directly on the drum Vshaft onroller bearings 2 I.

At the outer end of each drum, a clutch 22 is provided including a relatively movable clutch member 23 which includes a central sleeve which is non-rotatably mounted on the drum shaft, and capable of longitudinal movement along the same. This clutch member extends outwardly and is constructed to form a housing for a plurality of alternate` friction rings 24. These friction rings 24 are splined at their openings to the clutch member 23, and they lie intermediate may be substantially in axial alignment with between similar friction rings 25 that are splined to a friction drum 26 which, in the presentinstance, is in theform of a flange that is bolted to the outer head 21 of the drum 20. This head 21 operates as the relatively rlxed member of the clutch 22 and presents a clamping face to engage the innermost clamping plate of the clutch. The construction described involving this drumand clutch, is duplicated at the other end of the casing 4. The brake drum or flange 26 carries a servo-brake, and in the present instance. this brake is applied on the outer side of the drum. Referring to Fig. 3, 28 illustrates this one-way brake band which is mounted and applied to the brake drum in such a way that it will permit rotation of the drum in one direction, but will develop a wrapping action if the drum is rotating in the other direction; in other words, when the brake drum 20 is taking up the cable 29, the ,brake will oier substantially no resistance to the rotation which would be in an unwrapping" direction so to speak, for the brake band; but when the load on the cable 29 is being lowered,

Vthis reverse direction of rotation will cause a wrapping action of the brake, which should be capable of supporting the load in a xed position. In accordance with our invention, we provide. a control preferably operated by a single control member such as a lever, which is capable of opening the clutch so that the cable drum can run free, and this same member is capable of easing the wrapping action of the brake band so as to lower the load at any desired speed.

In order to accomplish this, we prefer to springload the lower end of the brake. This springload mounting includes a compression spring 30 in the form of a coil that may be housed in a spring Ibarrel 3I extending down from the under side of the casingv 4 (see Fig.` 3) The upperend of this spring thrusts against a head 32, the upper portion of which operates as a shackle, being provided with a pair of ears 33, to receive an anchor bolt 34 mounted in the end of thev spring. This head 32 ls slidable on one endof a bolt 35 that extends upwardly lthrough theA the spring barrel 3|. This shank or shackle bolt 40 carries an adjusting nut 44 that may be rotated for adjusting the brake band around the brake drum.

The brake band is controlled by easing off the lower end which, of course, isthe end that would wrap when the brake drum is rotating in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3, which wouldY run the line ol of the drum. In order to accomplish this, we provide means located adjacent the lower end of the brake band which, in the present instance, is operated through an opening in the casing 4. For this purpose we employ a short rock-shaft 45, the inner end of which is rigidly connected to lever 46, having a short arm carrying a roller 41 to roll on the cam 48 that is welded onto the eye at the end of the brake band that carries thebolt 34, Of course the use of a roller is not essential, and if desired, contact could be made directlybetween the short arm ofthis lever 46 and the cam; in fact, any suitable connection can be made at this point, operating in such a way that when the rock shaft 45 is rotated through a small angle, the end of the brake band will be pushed back slightly in a direction to oppose the force of the spring 30.

We also employ this lever 46 to control the clutch 22, and for this purpose the lever 46 is formed with a long arm that preferably extends substantially parallel with the axis of the drum shaft. This facilitates connecting up this lever 46 to the clutch 22 when the adjacent head 5 of the casing 4 is put in place. This head 5 takes the thrust of closing the clutch, and this clutchclosing mechanism is of a common type known commercially as an acme thread clutch control.

The clutch operating mechanism includes a rotatable sleeve 49 having -a skeleton-form arm 49a that projects 01T from Vit and carries a ball head 49h on its end, that ts into a slot or socket 46a that extends into the lever 46 from its end. This sleeve 49 has a high pitch thread connection to a fixed nut 55 which is carried in a central opening at the hub 5I on the axis of the head 5. This fixed nut 5I] may be covered on its outer side by a removable cover plate 52, the edge of which projects over the boss 53 on the outer side of the head l5. The xed nut 50 would be put in the hub 5I from the inside, so as to seat up against the shoulder at 54 where the thrust of closing the clutch is taken. The sleeve-nut 49 carries a ball thrust bearing 50a which is concentric with, and secured to, the clutch member 23 which is splined on the drum shaft, and lwhen the lever 46 rotates the sleeve 49 on its axis, the sleeve moves linwardly and away from the head Y 5 so as to enable this clutch member 23 to clamp the friction plates 24 and 25 up against the head 21 of the cable drum, thereby applying the clutch. The movement of the lever 43 in the opposite direction, of course opens the clutch.

AsV illustrated in Fig. 4, if desired thefa'ce of the cam 48 may be provided with a'section 55 of' increased slope that operates as a dwell for the roller. 1

Each drum 29 has an independent controLand this is preferably accomplished by means of two distinct levers such as the lever 55 illustrated in Fig; 5. This lever extends clown from an elevated point where it is provided with a handle for operating it,its lower end portion being mounted on a pin 51 beyond which its short arm 58 is connectecl by a link 55 over to an arm 60 that is rigidly secured to the outer end of the rock shaft 45.V Fig. 5 shows the construction at the other end of the apparatus for operating the other drum that is not shown in Fig. l, because it is concealed within the casing, However, this lever arrangement is the same as that for the drum 2i] that is shown in section in Fig. 1. A coil spring is provided for holding the rock shaft 45 in a position to open the clutch. In the present instance, this spring is applied as a coil spring Sl, one end of which is attached to a iin 62 extending down from the inner end of the link 59; the other end of the spring 6l may be anchored to the casing as at 53. This urges the rock-shaft to rotate in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 4, and holds the roller 41 up against the face of the cam. But this spring is a weak spring and it cannot move the end of the brake sufficiently to ease off the brake. When the lever 56 is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 5, the rock-shaft 45 will of course be given a counterclockwise rotation which will move its lever 46 in a direction to close the clutch, to raise the load; movement of the lever forcibly in the opposite direction from that indicated by the arrow in Fig. 5, will move its cam roller 41 in a direction to cooperate with the cam 48 to ease the wrapping action, permitting the drum to turn in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 3. By controllingthe position of this lever '56, the speed of lowering a load can be very nicely regulated.

By having the extension l for carrying the outboard bearing for the pinion I4 located on the side opposite to the spider l5, it is possible to assemble these parts in the relation illustrated in Fig. l, or in a reverse relation, that is, with the spider I5 and ring gear I5 on the left side of the pinion instead of on the right side, in which case of course the extension lll of the sleeve 9 would be over on the right side instead of on the left side. This is an advantageous feature because it enables the assembly to adapt this hoisting apparatus for use in a situation where a drive shaft corresponding to the drive shaft 3 could only rotate in one direction, that is to say, a direction that would be wrong or reversed, for the proper operation of the drum shaft.

Referring to Fig. 2, the cable is illustrated as leading up over an elevated sheave 64 (which has a wide flat face to allow cable to b distributed evenly on the winding drum), and thence downwardly with a run 29a, on the axis of swing of a fair-lead block 65. This fair-lead block has a pulley or sheave 66 to facilitate handling the cable in and out. These sheaves 64 and 66 are mounted in a large bracket 61, and each of these brackets 61 is provided with a saddle 6B bolted onto a pad 69 on the side of the casing. The upper bearing for the fair-lead block 65 is constructed with the usual bore 10 through which the line passes down, and this bearing is preferably carried on a separate bracket 1l that bolts to a pad 12 on the rear face of the bracket or housing 61. The lower bearing for the block 65 can be formed by stepping the same in an extension 13 that maybe formed as an integral extension from the. lower end of the housing 61.

-It should be, understood that this invention can be practiced without adapting it merely to `a double drum type of hoist, for it is obvious that if desired, the invention could be practiced by providing a long shaft driven from one end if necessary, instead of at an intermediate point on its length, and this shaft could operate as a drum shaft for a plurality of drums mounted on the same in accordance with this specification. Such an adaptation of the invention might be useful in a situation where it was required to employ a number of independent hoist lines or drag lines. i

The assembly of parts associated with the relatively movable clutch member 23, may include an oil seal 14 at the inner end of the sleeve portion of this member that is splined on the drum shaft. Theparts associated with the high pitch sleeve 49 may include the bearing 14a as illustrated in Fig. 1. These parts, however, are merely adaptations of standard construction for this type of clutch control, and form no part of the present invention except that in accordance with our invention, we mount the fixed nut or threaded stub shaft 50 so that it operates as a housing for the bearing on the end of the drum shaft. If the cap screws of the head 5 are removed, the sleeve 49 can be rotated in a direction to push the head 5 off, to give accessibility to the clutch. The direction of the open-ended slot or socket 46a cooperates to enable the ball 49h to be shoved back into the socket from the open end of the casing.

In operating the cable drums 20, it should be understood that each drum is controlled independently by its own control lever 5B. Each spring V5I holds its lever in a neutral position with its clutch open. The movement of the lever 56 in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 5, will rotate its corresponding rock-shaft 45 in the proper direction to enable the lever 46 to rotate the high pitch sleeve 49 in the direction to close the clutch, that is to say, in a direction to move the clutch member 23 toward the left as viewed in Fig. l. The thread of the sleeve 49 would have the proper character to enable this to be done. If the lever 56 is moved in the other direction the clutch will stay open, and the cam roller 41 will commence to become effective on the cam 48 to exert a force to partially overcome the force of the spring 30 and move the adjacent end of the brake band away from the face of the brake drum, loosening it up, however, suiiciently to enable the cable 29 to b e paid out from the cable drum to lower the load. However, by controlling the position of the control lever, the wrapping effect and braking effect of the brake-band can be very nicely regulated to lower the load as fast as desired, or to stop the load and hold it at any elevation desired. This would be accomplished by permitting the spring loaded end of the brake-band to come back, at which time, of course, the lever would neither hold the clutch closed, nor apply the roller 41 forcibly to the cam 48. Just beyond this position for the lever, of course the clutch would become closed, and this would cause the drum to rotate in a direction opposite to the arrow indicated in Fig. 3, and this would wrap the cable on the drum and raise the load.

Many other embodiments of the invention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What we claim is:

-1 1. In a hoisting apparatus, the combinatio'n of a frame including a casing, a drum-shaft mount,

ed within the casing, a hoisting drum mounted for free rotation on the drum-shaft, a .drive-shaft extending into the casingY with meansy driven thereby for driving the drum-shaft, a clutchV employing one end of the drum as a relatively fixed clutch-member and having a, relatively movable clutch-member splined on the drum-shaft, a rock-shaft mounted in the casing for controlling the clutch, said rock-shaft having a clutch lever extending toward the end of the casing and having an open socket, a removablehead for covering the end of said casing, `actuating means carried by the removable head for moving the relatively movable clutch-member to close the clutch, said actuating means including a part capable of moving into the said open socket by a movement of said removable head toward the end of the casing.

2. In a hoisting apparatus, the combination of a frame including a casing, a removable head for the casing, means for securing the removable head to the casing, a drum shaft mounted within the casing, a hoisting drum mounted for free rotation on the drum shaft, a drive shaft extending into the casing with means driven thereby for driving the drum shaft, a clutch employing one end of the drumas a relatively fixed clutch member and having a relatively movable clutch member splined to the drum shaft, a bearing on the end of the drum shaft, a stub shaft carried by the removable head for the casing and forming a housingffor such bearing, and clutch operating means including a rotatable sleeve having a threaded connection with said stub shaft for selectively rotatively connecting the drum to the drum shaft, said sleeve being effective to separate the removable head from the casing by rotation thereof when the said removable head securing means has been released.

EARL B. MALOON. A WILLIS H. YOUNT. 

